Pat Cummins has warned England to expect a repeat of the carnage caused by Mitchell Johnson four years ago when Australia unleash their pace attack in the upcoming Ashes series, starting November 23.

Pat Cummins is all set to be picked as Australia’s third seamer for the upcoming Ashes series, starting November 23. (Getty Images)

A few days after Mitchell Starc expressed his wish to emulate former tearaway pacer Mitchell Johnson’s feat from Ashes 2013-14 in the upcoming series against England, Pat Cummins too has launched a warning for the Joe Root-led team against short-pitched bowling.

Johnson’s fiery spells in the last Ashes in Australia not only garnered him 37 wickets and a 5-0 result in favour his team, but a barrage of bouncers at searing pace, combined with sledging, rattled the then Alastair Cook-led side to the core.

Cummins, who is all set to be picked as the third seamer for the Ashes, aims to replicate the Australian bowling unit from the 2013-14 series.

“To watch Johno (Johnson) do what he did, (he) kept the whole morale of the side and Australia up against the Poms almost single-handedly. It shows the importance a really quick bowler can have and hopefully one of us three or four guys can do a similar job,” Cummins was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

“Hope you (read: England) practice your bouncers because we’ll be bowling a lot of them. No one really likes it if you’ve got real pace and real accuracy, especially those kind of guys. They play on slower wickets, not as much bounce, so over here and in South Africa as well, it’s one of our biggest strengths,” Cummins said.

“As batsmen, we grow up on these wickets and as bowlers getting bounce has always been really important. I think trying to make it as different to their home conditions as possible and normal bouncy, fast wickets and short balls are definitely that,” Cummins added.

Aggression an important tool

The 24-year-old fast bowler, who has had long injury layoffs after making his Test debut six years ago in 2011, is yet to play a Test at his home. Cummins has so far played a mere five Tests, but his bowling exploits on the recent tours of India and Bangladesh carry great significance for Australia.

Even though he would be the least experienced bowler in the line-up, Cummins said he’ll not shy away from leading Australia’s bowling attack.

“I’d love to play that role. I think we’re lucky that there’s a few of us who are all pretty tall and get a bit of bounce and like to bowl with a bit of pace. Hopefully the wickets have a bit of pace and bounce in them, there’s nothing like getting your adrenaline up and then running in trying to bowl short,” he said.

Cummins believes aggression will remain an important tool for the Australian bowlers.

“I think we all show our aggression differently and you probably tailor it towards which batsman you’re bowling to. I thought that was one of the things along with the 150kph bouncer that really intimidates them so not just bowling, hopefully that’s not our only tool. I’m not quite quick-witted enough to come up with too many sledges but hopefully we can show our aggression in other ways,” he said.